LIBERIA: House Speaker Arrives In Washington D.C. As Guest Of U.S. Congress

Liberia’s Speaker of the House of Representatives and Head of its Legislature, Dr. Bhofal Chambers, has arrived in Washington D.C, the United States of America as guest of the US-Congress’ House Democracy Partnership (HDP) and is expected to hold bilateral meetings with peers in the U.S. Congress and Government.

Whilst in the United States, Dr. Chambers will participate in a legislative leadership forum geared towards collaborating to strengthen parliament’s roles in representative democracy, and the authority of the legislature in combating polarization and instituting legislative transparency to increase citizens’ trust.

This year’s HDP’s forum is organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), with support from USAID, in partnership with the International Republican institute (IRI). About twenty HDP partner parliaments from around the world have been invited to participate in the high-level program.

Following his engagements in Washington D.C., the Liberian Chief Legislator, Dr. Bhofal Chambers, will be expected at the United Nation’s Headquarters in New York to participate in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP), symposium on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals self-assessment toolkit.

In 2016, the IPU and UNDP produced the Sustainable Development Goals self-assessment toolkit. The purpose of the toolkit is to help parliamentarians and parliamentary staff review key processes and identify institutional gaps in parliaments works on the SDGs. The toolkit is designed to enable parliaments to discuss issues, gather information and answer questions that help them make informed decisions about the most suitable and effective way to engage in SDGs implementation.

Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will preside during the seven-agenda symposium session, with focus on the 2019 High-Level Political Forum aimed at empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality, in line with the debate held by the IPU Committee on the United Nations Affairs and a special Speakers’ Dialogue held during the just ended 140th IPU Assembly last April 2019 in the Qatar, amongst others.

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Joel Cholo Brooks is a Liberian journalist who previously worked for several international news outlets including the BBC African Service. He is the CEO of the Global News Network which publishes two local weeklies, The Star and The GNN-Liberia Newspapers. He is a member of the Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) since 1986, and several other international organizations of journalists, and is currently contributing to the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation as Liberia Correspondent.